G.I. JOE INSIDE THE FILECARDS FEATURING ‘TRIPWIRE’
Story by staff writer “Shaft”
Today we look at G.I. Joe Tripwire. His PMS is “Explosive Ordnance Disposal” and SMS is “Demolitions”. Now these are two opposite ends of the spectrum as one deals with disabling explosives and the other is blowing things up. Typically the MOS responsible for blowing things up (demolitions) is the 12B Combat Engineer. Then we have the combat support MOS 89D Explosive Ordnance Disposal Specialist. Tripwire might have started out as a 12B then re-classed to a 89D as a simple explanation for his two specialties.
Another explanation is he has always been a 12B Combat Engineer but took the Explosive Ordnance Clearance Agent course (which is only open to 12B’s). My understanding of 12B’s who take this course can “render safe” explosive devices but do not have the full knowledge or training that an 89D does. However I do not know for certain if the EOCA course was available during the time Hama wrote Tripwire’s filecard. I believe the course came about during the global war on terror due to the increasing amount of improvised explosive devices and the need to quickly render safe these devices. So a modern take on Tripwire might be a 12B with EOCA training.
I wish they would have made him a US Navy EOD specialist as that is the only EOD job in the military that is “special operation capable”. They usually accompany other special operations units and can apply for more advanced schools such as combat diving and military free-fall.
